The hyaluronidase from Bothrops atrox venom was purified and characterized. The effect of monovalent and divalent ions on their catalytic activity was studied, showing that the magnesium ion (150 mM) increases de activity in 40%, while glycine inhibits it by 44 %. The enzyme lacks toxic activity, when administered in albino mice in toxicity tests, but increases the hemorrhagic action of the total venom on the skin of these animals. The polyvalent botropic antivenom, was able to recognize components of the total venom of B. atrox, as well as the purified enzyme, in immunodiffusion assays. The cDNA coding for hyaluronidase from the venom of B. atrox was obtained from mRNA extracted of the fresh venom, and sequenced. The analysis of the cDNA, of 2020 bp, shows that it contains an ORF of 1350 bp that codes for a pre-enzyme of 449 amino acids, which probably is processing resulting in a matur...

Snakebite envenoming is a neglected public pathology, affecting especially rural communities or isolated areas of tropical and subtropical Latin American countries. The parenteral administration of antivenom is the mainstay and the only validated treatment of snake bite envenoming. Here, we assess the efficacy of polyspecific anti-Bothrops serum (α-BS) produced in the Instituto Nacional de Salud (INS, Peru) and at the Fundação Ezequiel Dias (FUNED, Brazil), to neutralize the main toxic activities induced by five medically-relevant venoms of: Bothrops atrox, B. barnetti, and B. pictus from Peru, and the Brazilian B. jararaca and B. leucurus, all of them inhabiting different geographical locations.

We thank Prof. J.A. Eble, from the Institute for Physiological Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, University of Münster, Germany for critical reading the manuscript. This work was supported by Convenio de Cooperación Bilateral CONCYTEC (Perú) - CNPq (Brazil), Grant 490269/2013-3 , Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG, Brazil) and Programa Nacional de Innovación para la Competitividad y Productividad - Innóvate Perú (Contrato N° 131-FINCyT-IB-2013 ). This report is part of a dissertation for Doctoral Degree of Fanny Lazo to Post Graduate School in Biological Sciences, UNMSM.